Japanese elementary school students aren't required to carry the randoseru — a boxy flap-closure backpack that can nearly swallow the slight frames of the youngest children. But nearly all of them do, just like their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents did. In fact, the tradition is nearly as old as the Japanese state itself.
In 1885, Gakushuin elementary school in Tokyo, which admitted only the children of the imperial aristocracy and the social elite at that time, adopted the randoseru as its official school bag. While the hands-free leather bag was highly practical, the school's real objective was political — less than twenty years after emerging from the fragmented and isolated Tokugawa shogunate, the fledgling Empire of Japan wanted to instill a shared identity and culture among its youngest subjects.
Before long, the randoseru was a ubiquitous accessory among young Japanese students, as well as a lasting symbol of solidarity and common responsibility. The randoseru (and the values it represented) eventually outlived the Empire itself, enduring through an earth-shattering war and Japan's rebirth as a modern economic powerhouse.
The bags are still commonly handmade from leather, frequently cost the equivalent of $400 or more, and are often given as gifts from grandparents. Students carry the same randoseru throughout elementary school, and use them to store all textbooks and school supplies. After six years, many students keep their bags as mementos, or repurpose the leather for wallets or other small accessories. Most boys carry black randoseru, while red and lavender are popular choices for girls.
The backpack may have begun as a way to promote uniformity in the fragile new Japanese Empire. But that Empire is long gone, the Emperor reduced to a figurehead of a modern democracy. And now the randoseru — bulky, expensive, and old-fashioned in appearance to some eyes — has evolved as well, from a symbol of conformity into a beloved family tradition.
